Idaho Falls Police Department Warns About Skimmers

With the recent skimmers found in Pocatello and Idaho Falls gas stations; you may be wondering how these work and what you can do to protect your money.

For a few days now the Idaho Falls police department has been warning gas station employees to take a good look at their pumps to make sure no skimmers have been placed inside.

The police have already come across quite a few of these skimmers since last Friday.

“These particular ones that we have, and we have 7 now that have been located in Idaho Falls, they were actually inside the gas pump so it would be very difficult for any consumer to actually know that they’re there” said Sergeant Phil Grimes.

5 of the 7 skimmers were found at Phillips 66 gas stations. One was on 17th Street and the other was on Broadway and Skyline. The other two skimmers were located at the South Holmes Quick Stop.

“These particular skimmers aren’t blue tooth capable so they have to actually, the person that placed them in the pump would have to actually go back to the pump and retrieve them, so they don’t’ have the data that are in these skimmers” continued Grimes.

The police department says this is the first time they’ve had anything like this.

“I think it’s just a growing trend, everywhere, so you know as technology improves and you know unfortunately people, there are bad guys out there, for everything good there are people tuning it into something bad” said Grimes.

Although the skimmers in east Idaho have only been found in gas pumps so far, they can also be installed in various other locations, including ATM machines.

For more tips of what you can do to protect your money from skimmers click here.